Scott Courtenay-Smith is painting a breast cancer awareness mural at Eagle and Market streets in honor of his mother, a breast cancer survivor. / Erin Brethauer/ebrethau@citizen-times.com

Written by

'I'm really doing this for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, the American Cancer Society and for breast cancer awareness,' Scott Courtenay-Smith said of his a breast cancer awareness mural at Eagle and Market streets. / Erin Brethauer/ebrethau@citizen-times.com

IF YOU GO

Illuminate Breast Cancer

The luminary event begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Pack Square Park, Asheville, with registration and T-shirt pickup for Saturday’s Making Strides walk. The first 500 walkers will receive pink luminaries and will help to form an illuminated, human pink ribbon at sunset. Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

The 5K Run/Walk starts at 10 a.m. Saturday at Pack Square, Asheville, benefiting the American Cancer Society. Entry fee is $25; teams encouraged. To learn more, contact Peggy Crowe at 254-6931 or peggy.crowe@cancer.org or sign up at main.acsevents.org.

The website for his Asheville design company, Renovate with Color, is awash with complementary shades of the hue. On Tuesday, he wore a pink polo shirt. And pink trucker hat. He wore this flush attire as he painted a mural — pink, of course — in honor of his mother, Carole, a 10-year breast cancer survivor.

The mural on the Del Cardo Building on the corner of Eagle and Market streets will be a destination for participants of the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event Saturday. Courtenay-Smith wants the participants raising money for the American Cancer Society, who are probably wearing pink, to sign a pink panel and the corners of the mural in honor of those affected by the disease.

“I’m really doing this for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, the American Cancer Society and for breast cancer awareness,” he said. “Visibility is really the key thing. That’s what the whole pink thing means to me. I love pink, I really do, but I think pink really brings attention to something that people don’t really think about and that can have a huge impact.”

Courtenay-Smith designed the mural to look like a quilt. It’s a reference not only to a traditional female art form but to the sewing circles, the community of women, who stitched side-by-side to provide warmth and comfort to loved ones on cold nights.

“I feel like a strength of women is the ability to work together, to create consensus in order to create positive change,” he said.

The four panels of the quilt design are all anchored by a description of a female relationship: Mama, daughter, sister and friend.

“I wanted it to encompass (everyone),” he said. “But it started with ‘Mama’ because it’s dedicated to my mother and her strength during this process.”

Uplifting community

His mother, who lives in upstate New York, was uplifted by the community of fellow breast cancer fighters and friends.

“She always had a group of good friends, but she made friends through the process, with women dealing with the same thing,” he said. “They would go to their check-ups together and check-in with each other. It’s very inspirational.”

Courtenay-Smith moved to Asheville from Oakland, Calif., two years ago. His design and renovation company “came out of my fine art business,” he said. “I was looking for a more lucrative way to support my family.”

“I believe that it’s important to find the opportunity, when I can, to give back to the community in some way,” he said, noting that the paint and supplies were paid for out of his pockets. “It’s obviously something that is close to my heart.”

“I am very happy and grateful to be making art for a living,” he added. “I’m happy that I carry a paint brush to work and that I can hopefully affect some sort of positive change with it.”